Warriors / Jazz Open Thread

The test Friday night for the Warriors will be whether they can get a playoff-rival effort against a lottery-dwelling opponent. In the second half of a back-to-back, the bench also will be even more important than ever. The formula for winning has become pretty clear — movement (of the ball and off it), active defense inside and out, the usual jaw-dropping performance from Stephen Curry and something (anything) from the bench. Easy enough to dump into a sentence, but the Warriors are still struggling to consistently implement it on the court.

Mighty or mellow opponent, all of these games will matter when the playoff pairings shake out in April. The Warriors need to stockpile as many wins as possible to continue closing the gap on the Clippers. Given their recent inconsistency, there’s no way this game is a lock. Win or lose, drop your thoughts below.

The W’s don’t play till Tuesday, as I see it this is an advertising move for the Santa Cruz club. Frequently W’s have been sent down and played extremely well (Dedmon, Nedovich) but that doesn’t buy them any court time with the big boys.

it does help line the pockets o’ the Golden State corporation.

(And hopefully makes for a fun night for Santa Cruz fans, but I do wonder a little how the coach for Santa Cruz feels about it?)

Thurston Hunger

I’m curious if it was a pre-emptive strike vs Miami, or if they will actually try and integrate Bynum with the Pacers.

I suspect the latter will happen with very little tolerance for any stupidity on Bynum’s half. Not sure if he’s smart enough to suss that out, but he’s looking at a golden opportunity not just at a ring, but at salvaging his career.

jsl165

Some excellent points, JOL.

Don’t know when I’ve ever seen a better one-game tandem than Steph-Bogs last night. Maybe Magic-Kareem (perhaps, tho no specific game comes to mind) or Stockton-Malone (arguable, tho not in my book)?

Anyone?

jsl165

If I were he, I’d be a happy camper.

Believewhat

‘Let’s hope Bogut can duplicate this performance against legit centers.’

You obviously forgot Bogut against center who is front runner for DPOY this year, DeAndre. He has nothing to prove but just keep playing.

monsta

I’m going to the game in santa cruz tonight (how could I miss the titanic matchup with the bakersfield whatevers?)

i’ll let you know how brooks looks unleashed…..

JEY

That was just a day-maker right there.

El Topo

Nash and Stud?

JEY

I’m personally a fan of Iguodala, and it seems like he’s doing what must be done to get his teammates engaged at the risk of his own success. Most games when I feel like he’s taking too much of a backseat, it’s usually because we’re winning the game. Sometimes, he has an open look from 3-point (though not a big window) and he’ll pass that up. I think that’s okay however, because Dre’s trey shooting has cooled a lot from the beginning of the year.

That being said, I think you’re only judging Dre from the offensive side. His effect on the defensive side is huge. Perhaps not as strong as Bogut within the paint, but Dre’s a cooler for sure. Klay was our blanket for opposing stars last year, but his defense has regressed a little. Dre maintains his caliber of defense, very rarely missing on rotations or attacking screens incorrectly. And I cannot tell you how many times I’ve cried with joy at his long arms gaining deflections in the passing lanes.

JON and Ezeli, I think are both very much needed for their specific purposes. JON, despite his age, still has great moves around the basket, no denying that. And who wouldn’t love his stalled FT shot that gets at least one lane violation per game? Ezeli, while not offensively knowledgable like JON, is still young to the game, and was fairly good at defense if I recall. He was able to spell Bogut well enough and that’s really all our centers come down to (which may also have been what you meant by a big body, haha). Ezeli had some nasty dunks and cutbacks as well. Good rebounder.

I yi yiyi

WB

jsl165

Well, they were pretty good. Still, I don’t recall a single game of downright, superior excellence like last night. But, there could have been one in that terrific year they had together.

Others?

I yi yiyi

So Sorry Mr Fan, but you wrong again, to say that Klay and Harrison were not great picks just shows that you have no knowledge about Basketball what so ever….none

Thurston Hunger

Getting to Fifty

So the W’s sit at 29-19, it’s an 82 game season as you all know and thus need to go 21-13 to achieve 50.

I think it is more than a little likely, and I am not that much of an optimist. I see these games as potential losses

Yes, the W’s could win every one of those games, and Steph may never turn the ball over again. Bear with me…

That would be 25-9…that just doesn’t sound all that likely for a team that squeaked out a victory over a tank squad missing one of their best players (Derek Favors would have really made Draymond Green’s importance mandatory). As mentioned below, the W’s too often sink to the level of their competition. Whether it be, a big early lead lost to showtime complacency, or hungry “lesser” teams coming in with an axe to grind and a solid defensive scheme to match. And there will be injuries…if not blood.

The W’s are not an efficient machine like San Antonio or Indiana (or perhaps even OKC?). And those machines occasionally get surprised by teams beneath them in the rankings of course as well.

Still the talk as of late (not so much here, but on Comcast and other press spots) that the W’s might find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture, I don’t buy it.

The W’s do need to muscle up to dismiss Dallas and Phoenix twice, to put some distance between those two Western success stories and Golden State. That Bulls game on the near horizon could be a struggle. At least one person here might worry about the Knicks. At least, unlike last year, teams with some meat inside (Orlando, Sac are not horribly ominous games for the W’s…it’s not all Bogut that has changed that but he’s more than half of that cure).

Still in the schedule at least, there is room for some margin of error and hitting 50. The problem is the W’s seem to be riding on that margin of error to win way too many games this season.

This is basically year two in their ascendancy, and while of course the cliche of taking one game at a time has plenty of truth to it, I think the W’s need to be aware of the remaining schedule. And play with a sense of overriding urgency (although not overriding minutes for the starters) to limit their remaining losses to 10 or less, in an attempt to be rolling come play-off time.

The defense has been solid for the past four games, against a mix of quality, but at least the defense has been consistent (and offensively struggling Klay has been a definite part of that by the way), look forward to seeing more of that and the W’s hitting 50 wins.

rioderek

You’re right. It’s amazing Jackson NEVER pulls a starter who’s cold and tries a new guy. Jackson seems very stuck in his ways too tolerent of poor play. He displays no creativity or flexibility. He stays with guys like Thompson no matter what. All players have off games, however you’d think when a guy is off his game the coach whould be open to going with another player. I was a huge supporter of his, however he’s basically becoming hard to defend.

rioderek

You go wth Crawford at the point, and Curry SG (like Jack and Curry last year). Crawford can play the point just as he did so well this season in Boston. Besides he needs the minutes and exposure to his teammates before the playoffs.

knick

There’s no disputing that fact. Bogut is indeed one of the best warrior centers warriors have had in a while.
However, I don’t think he’s anything close to a Howard, Hibbert, Chadler or even Pekovic.
That’s what his fans can’t process.

Completely incorrect however you should post that over at a Knicks Blog you sir are on the WRONG BLOG

coltraning

perhaps, but Indy is the team Miami struggles with the most. They get a little flummoxed facing real bigs, as we saw when our Ws went into South Beach. The chess match is always who blinks first? Miami and small ball or team X and big ball. Vogel has made it abundantly clear that he will not go small this year, period, always having at least one giant in the game, and Bynum is a better giant than is Mahimi, at the very least. Clearly Vogel is doubling down on the bigs, and even the biggest Bynum-bashers must admit he is a damn sight better off the bench than is Mahimi, assuming he wants to play. And yes, that is a big assumption. I doubt Vogel/Bird would hire him if they thought he couldn’t contribute.

coltraning

I hated the Barea shot as well, and he deserved the 7 game suspension, but there is no denying his talent. I doubt Vogel/Bird would hire him if he couldn’t contribute, and he makes a great team even tougher…

I yi yiyi

I do not believe that we will not win another 25+ games the rest of the way and that would be 54 wins or better

rioderek

Brooks averaged 12 points a game as a rookie therefore he has skills. I think he’s a volume shooter, who needs to be seen and evaluated. Bazemore will never score 12 a game at the NBA level.

Believewhat

On Bynum, I just posted yesterday that we should take a flier on Bynum and predicted that some playoff team will give him a chance and why not dubs. Well, too late, would have been a good gamble, low risk move.

victor soma

curry-andre-draymond-lee-bogut ftw

HiRez

Agree he still has some value when his shot is off, but he needs to recognize when it is and dial it back, look to see if there’s a pass to be made, or drive the ball. Because there are times when he just absolutely shoots you out of a winnable game. And those clanks kill momentum.

earl monroe

yeah that Bynum thing is tricky, if Bynum was just a slightly better passer I would have taken a flyer on him, but considering Myers adversity to mess with the chemistry of this team I understand the team taking a pass on Bynum, I am sure Miami was after him, in the Warriors defense there are quite a few red flags when it comes to Bynum

earl monroe

Would anyone here make a trade of Klay Thompson for Derozan?

Logjam

Just 3 or 4 minutes into the first quater, Curry’s already hit some shots and is wide open in the corner. Klay with the ball rather than make the easy pass to Curry goes one on one and comes up short. Curry claps his hands together in what looks like frustration or anger at not getting the ball. I thought that was interesting interaction between the two of them.

knick

And you claim you watched the game. Bogut was predominantly on Griffin. Lee spent a bulk of his time on Deandre.

knick

Awww, poor timid kid.

high dribble dribble

I’d like to see Brooks get some real game time – sometimes guys seems to step up when they hit a new team — it’s just that I don’t see Jax doing it unless it comes down from the Myers or there are some injuries

I yi yiyi

Fool you don’t know anything about me,but you do post on the WRONG BLOG!!!

monsta

Klay Thompson took almost one-quarter of the Warriors’ 88 shots last night.

20 friggin shots. 3 for 11 in the first half, 0 for 9 in the second half. Talk about shooting your way out of a slump. When he was launching shots 17, 18, 19 and 20 in the fourth quarter, Thompson must have thought he was really, really due.

monsta

Is Speedy Claxton available?

knick

I know you’re really excited over Boguts last two games but try to be realistic. Bogut didn’t dominate anybody. If your man scores 27pts on you and put you in serious foul trouble within 18mins you were dominated not dominant. And lets face it, Ezeli will have similar numbers against Kanter.
As mentioned, lets hope he can repeat this performance against Noah and other real centers. Anyway, did you notice Kanter scored 6pts above his season average? Just saying.

Son of Ahmed

Were it not for Earl Monroe, this post would beg the question: Are all Knicks fans this vacuous?

I yi yiyi

Please….Bogut is much better than Noah….go post that crappy bs on your Knicks Blog you sir are on the WRONG BLOG

Our Team

mIchael/Scottie

I yi yiyi

Time to go change your diapers little one you are full and posting on the WRONG BLOG

Our Team

You certainly are entitled to your views on some of these issues, and I find them interesting. Here are mine on these topics:

First, it’s not all about the offense, especially for a 5 like Ezeli. Before he was injured, he had some of the best footwork and quickness for his size in the League, imo. He doesn’t need great hands to be an effective backup 5. How good are D Jordan’s hands and he’s an effective starter?

Second, I don’t buy that Bogut and Steph have to be good buddies off the court to have great chemistry on it. They are developing great chemistry on the court. They both are extremely smart players, with great court vision and great hands. They both seem to have the best hands and court vision in the league at their respective positions. David Lee probably makes three. All on one team. That is simply incredible. I think the chemistry between all three of those players will continue to grow.

Third, Iguodala appeared to suffer a serious hamstring injury and came back too early bc the team missed his presence terribly. You can see that he is still hampered by the hamstring. At the very least, the injury appears to have knocked off some of his confidence. To me, that doesn’t make him a disappointment. He looked great in there before he was injured, and I expect that to return after he gets some rest at the All-Star Break.

Fourth, Barnes is 21 years old. As Barnett keeps saying, it generally takes 3 years in the League to develop an NBA player. He’s one of the youngest in the League and he’s only in his second year. Anyway, everyone is entitled to their opinions and we’ll see where he’s at late next season.

jsl165

Well, yes and yes. Kinda. . . .

S and K were, however, better parts than tandem: they played well together, but probably just as well or better apart. Steph and Bogs seemed to be feeding off each other, not unlike a jazz riff — once they found their rhythm they almost seemed to be playing as a piece, with each knowing what the other needed, where he was going, etc. Although it was in a huge arena, there were moments I thot I was sitting at a table at Yoshi’s.

Now, O and K we’re a tandem only for that one year. But there, O had to lead, with the much younger Kareem following nicely. Again, last night I thot I was seeing Ben Webster and the
Hawk running off with ‘It Never Entered My Mind.’ It was THAT good.

jsl165

Those two were much like Wade and LBJ: a great pair, but not quite in synch the way Steph and Bogs were last night — which I found other-worldly.

Believewhat

Bogut was guarded by Jordan and on defense Bogut was guarding Blake in 1st half and then they switched. It is no use, you know zero about basketball and love the individual offensive stats more than team game. BTW, Bogut is an elite rebounder, Bogut is not damaed goods but Amare is, Melo is not 3rd best player in the league, not having better season than Durant, knicks are not contenders, Bogut does and did help Warriors win in playoffs and in regulars season, there are about 10 players carrying team more than Melo……

Endless list of your sh*tty comments.

Believewhat

Reminded me of John Starks who cost Knicks NBA championship with similar shooting in finals. Luckily, this team has Curry.

Fantom

The Starks comment makes a lot of sense. Starks did it with ,more heart and Thompson with more urgency. But Thomson loooks better every year with more new approaches- he improved defense, goes to the basket etc. Lets ask the coach to try and play him a bit less and see if that helps.

Believewhat

JOL,

Good comments all over. How about coaching trends ? Warriors won, so will stay away from coaching mistakes and save it for another day, but you can write a book on coaching mistakes and trends of coach Jackson. We deserved better team we got it but the players deserve a better coach too, a coach who puts them in best position to win.

Believewhat

The game plan before the game was to play Klay Thompson 40 mins and take more shots because Lee is not going to play AND coach sticked to that plan. Coach never heard of any in game adjustments.

Believewhat

Curry and Bogut had amazing game. I can say that Klay, Barnes and Dre’s offense has reached the rock bottom of the season in this game. That is a good that it didn’t cost dubs a game. Important thing coach has another data point to observe, i.e. Klay can go 3-20. All his playing career, he might have not seen anyone take 20 shots and miss 17 shots, so let this serve as wake up call for coach. Jordan Crawford should have played more minutes and he couldn’t have done any worse than Klay. Klay leads the league in catch and shoot points, it is clear that is what he should be doing if you want efficient scoring from him and to use him as advantage for dubs. Anyone who takes 20 shots, he need to have variety in his offense and Klay still developing that.

Thurston Hunger

I’d pass…

There’s a lot of story/marketing wrapped up in the Splash Bros (dueling sons of former NBA’ers and their brothers in the minor leagues). So I think maybe the W’s have too much vested to even consider this…

DeRozan already got his 1st non-rookie contract. At $9M per, so a pretty decent price, but Klay even next year is under $5M unless the W’s renegotiate him. So the accountants as well as the fans might want to stick with Klay for now. Also DeRozan doesn’t offer any more playmaking ability than Klay, to help offload Steph at times.

I’m all for letting the W’s current contingent run for 2 more years after this without making any wholesale changes. Bench adjustments might be more important (and a helluva lot cheaper).